


The Christmas Gift

by IrishBella



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:00:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27715127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrishBella/pseuds/IrishBella
Summary: Emma has Regina for Secret Santa. But what to get her??
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 7
Kudos: 44
Collections: Swan Queen Advent Calendar Collection 2





	The Christmas Gift

“Kid. Come on, you gotta help me out!” Emma reasons to her 12-year-old son.

“No way, Ma. You gotta do this on your own. No cheating,” he tells her, without looking up from his comic.

“It’s not cheating!” Emma defends. She sighs, her shoulders slumping and she drops on the bed beside him. “I just want an  _ idea _ of what she’d like, Hen.”

He finally closes his comic book and looks up at his distressed mother. “She doesn’t like gifts,” he tells her.

“Oh great. Of  _ course _ she doesn’t like gifts. And what am I supposed to do? Not get her a Secret Santa gift? I’m sure that would make everything 100 times better,” she scoffs.

Henry rolls his eyes. Instead of acknowledging her dramatics he tells her, “You could make her something,” he offers.

“What?” she asks him, turning away from the ceiling to look at him.

He shrugs, “It always worked for me.” He opens his comic again, effectively ignoring his mother.

Emma scoffs again, flopping back against the bed, looking up at the ceiling. It wasn’t the best idea. But it was the only one she had. She won’t be able to draw Her Majesty a picture, no, that would be embarassing for everyone. Macrome is out too, she wouldn’t even know the first thing about it. But maybe she could figure  _ something _ out. 

Think, think,  _ think _ , Swan. “What about a mix-tape?” she asks aloud.

“A what?” Henry asks, looking away from his comic.

“A playlist,” Emma says with a laugh. “We used to make a playlist and put it on a cassette or then a CD to give to people.”

“Oh yeah, Mom has one of those players,” Henry says, making Emma feel older than she ever had before. But then he adds, “Mom would probably like that. She likes music. And they didn’t have Christmas in the Enchanted Forest like we do here. No Christmas music. Just some carols about the cold weather and a big party for the solstice.”

“The longest night of the year,” Snow says, entering the room. “Why are you talking about our parties in the Enchanted Forest?”

“Just teaching Ma about stuff that she refused to read in my book,” he says, looking at his mother with a stink eye.

“It was my favorite party of the year,” Snow says wistfully.

“Wasn’t ever party your  _ favorite party of the year _ ?” Emma teases her mother.

“Oh hush,” Snow says with a small smile. “Now, dinner is almost ready, you two,” she says, effectively changing the subject.

Giving plenty of time for Emma to figure out which songs to add to her playlist for Regina’s Christmas gift.

Later that night, after Henry fell asleep, Emma sat up on her bed staring at her computer screen. “How to start this?” she whispers to herself. “ _ You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch? _ A little too on the nose?” she  _ “ _ Let’s start with  _ Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas _ ? Yes, good one, Swan,” she tells herself as she adds it to the top of the playlist. “Oooooh, a little Bing Crosby, obviously,” she whispers, adding a few more songs. “Julie Andrews  _ My Favorite Things _ ? Duh,” she scoffs, adding another song. “N’SYNC  _ Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays _ . Wonder if she knows that one,” she whispers to herself. “Oooh, the  _ entire  _ Kelly Clarkson Christmas album? Heck yes!” She continues adding songs,  _ I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, Feliz Navidad, The Christmas Shoes, Santa Clause is Coming to Town _ . And then it happens. Mariah Carey’s  _ All I want for Christmas is You _ . “It’s a classic,” she whispers in the silence. But...does it make the playlist feel uncomfortable? A little much for a friendly Secret Santa gift? “No,” she tells herself, “This playlist just has a lot of classic songs. Not a big deal.” She’s convinced. She syncs the playlist to her spare iPod, since she knows Regina still has a Blackberry and the Mercedes has a cassette player. She knows there’s a high chance Regina can’t even use her computer to  _ play _ music. She’ll put this with the fancy bottle of wine she bought for Regina. It’s not as good as Regina’s own apple cider, but Emma knows Regina likes this wine well enough. And it just so happens to be within their allotted Secret Santa spending budget. 

Now, how to get it to Regina without her knowing? 

She waits for Regina to leave her office for lunch with Henry before she sneaks in and leaves Regina’s gift on her desk. She disappears, offering a smile of thanks and a wink to Regina’s assistant, knowing she won’t tell Regina who dropped off the gift.

Emma’s back at the office, filling out her overdue paperwork when her phone rings. It’s Regina.

“Good afternoon Madam Mayor. I take it you heard my hexing spell over the ridiculous amount of paperwork you expect from the sheriff’s department?”

“Miss Swan, this is no time for games. I need to report a robbery.” 

“A robbery?” Emma asks, sitting up by her desk with a smirk on her face. “Is someone trying to steal your collection of hearts, again?”

She can practically  _ hear _ Regina seething through the phone. “No, Miss Swan. You see,” she starts and suddenly Emma knows she’s fallen into a trap. “I believe someone is trying to steal  _ my _ heart.”

“Excuse me?!” Emma asks, voice rising a few octaves.

“Well, Sheriff. I found this  _ obnoxious _ gift on my desk after I returned from my lunch,” she starts.

Emma sighs, relief relaxing every muscle in her body. Regina was just messing with her. 

“And what do I find upon my return?” Regina asks through the phone. “An obnoxiously bright present sitting atop my desk.”

“It doesn’t sound like a robbery to me,” Emma tells her with a smirk.

“Do you know what was inside that gaudy gift bag, Miss Swan?”

“Hey, Regina, come on, if you have a problem with a present you should take it up with the big guy.”

“Miss Swan are you hitting on me?”

“Excuse me?” Emma asks, nearly shouting as her foot falls off it’s spot on the chair and onto the floor.

“Oh, don’t play coy, Em-ma,” Regina says and the smirk is evident in her voice. “Someone bought me a half-way decent bottle of wine and an iPod that screams  _ Miss Swan _ .” 

She chokes but manages, “What?”

“I listened to the music,” Regina tells her, “it’s Mariah Carey’s  _ All I Want For Christmas is You _ on repeat.”

Emma stands from her desk, her chair flying into the filing cabinet behind her, “ _ WHAT?! _ ” She pulls at her hair. “There was a  _ whole _ playlist on that iPod!”

“Was there?” Regina asks and Emma can  _ hear _ the smirk in her voice. “Because it seems to me like a shameless attempt at flirting.” Emma is silent. Regina takes that as a win. “Well, Miss Swan? Is it?”

Emma sighs, pushing her hair from her face and her shoulders drop. “Is  _ what _ , Regina?”

“Is this Christmas gift a shameless attempt at flirting?”

Emma is silent, her mind racing. And for once, Regina remains silent, waiting for Emma’s response. But the longer she waits, the more unsure Regina becomes. Perhaps she read too much into this. Perhaps Emma doesn’t actually feel the same way she does. She bites her lip and starts to retract her statement as Emma says softly, “Do you want me to be flirting with you?”

Regina is unsure; she’s so used to being the confident one. But now she’s not so sure Emma was truly flirting with her. It was easy for her to look at that Secret Santa gift and know it was from Emma. She couldn’t help but smile at the silly gift bag and the bottle of wine Regina once told Emma she enjoyed, knowing Emma would remember. And then there was the iPod. Regina immediately pulled out her headphones and started listening. The first song was  _ All I Want For Christmas is You _ . Not that surprising, it  _ is _ a Christmas classic according to Snow, who starts playing Christmas music the day after Halloween.

But then the song repeats. Regina is surprised and she decides to scroll through the iPod, finding it is the  _ only _ song on the playlist. She sat back in her chair, wondering what it could mean. She and Emma had grown close over the years they'd known each other, but it never passed co-parenting their son. Well, and the occasional flirting.

“I-” she finally starts.

“Because then this might be the  _ best _ Christmas mix-up ever,” Emma finally says with a smile.

Regina can’t help the smile that takes over her face.  _ Thank God _ . “What do you say we discuss this further over dinner tonight? Henry has requested lasagna.”

Emma laughs, “Of course he did. He must think there’s something to celebrate,” she adds with a smirk.

“Well, perhaps he’s right,” Regina adds, a hint of promise in her voice.

Emma hears the door chime, signaling someone entering. Regina must hear it too because she offers a small sigh. “I will see you tonight, Madam Mayor.”

“I look forward to it, Sheriff.”

Click.

Emma smiles, letting her hand holding the phone fall to her side. She looks up to see her parents and Henry standing in the doorway, “Emma?” David asks, tilting his head in confusion. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah,” she says, trying to snap out of her dreamy stage. She locks eyes with Henry, “Anything you wanna tell me, Kid?”

He looks at her in confusion, “No? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Emma says with a shrug, “Your mom just called me about a Christmas gift she received,” she tells him, gauging his reaction.

And, as the pre-teen that he is, his first thought was to look up at his grandmother. He is  _ no _ poker face, Emma thinks with a smirk.

“Did she enjoy her gift?” Mary-Margaret asks with an innocent smile.

“You had co-conspirators!” Emma accuses, pointing her finger at Henry and Mary-Margaret.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Mary-Margaret says, looking away from Emma.

“I cannot believe you too, ruining a perfectly good gift!”

“Uh, we made it better, Ma. Obviously. Mom told me she was making  _ lasagna _ . We all know what that means,” Henry deadpans.

“We do?” David asks, looking incredibly confused. Okay, so maybe only Henry and Mary-Margaret were in on the con.

“You  _ requested _ lasagna, you little con!” Emma accuses.

Henry shrugs, “I’m going to celebrate with or without you.”

“Oh you little shit,” Emma tells him with a shake of her head. “When did you get so sneaky?”

“My mom was the Evil Queen and Grandma was a bandit; it’s in my DNA I guess.” 

Emma scoffs and shakes her head, turning her attention to her mother, “You two are incorrigible.” 

“But it worked,” they both say together, sharing a smirk.

Emma laughs again, watching her dad’s confusion at what is happening, grow. “Let’s just go, we can’t be late for dinner.”

“That’s right!” Henry says, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh get out of here,” Emma scoffs, pushing him towards the door. Tonight was going to be an interesting night.


End file.
